Michael “Myk” O’Leary – Front-End Development Lead
206-428-7973 – myko@blueneedle.com – gChat: mykoleary@gmail.com – Skype: blueneedle
# Summary
I have worked on long term projects in the following industries/sectors: Internet presence provision, operating system software, mobile software, mobile PIM (personal information management) software, home networking software, online music concerts, video collaboration, home energy usage, and online education.
My priorities with any project are team, culture, and product over the technologies used to build it. I have been around the block enough to adapt to unknown technologies, but you can't easily retrofit a good cultural fit or a poorly situated product.
# Specialties
1. CSS based presentation; JavaScript programming including use of AJAX, DOM, jQuery, and jQuery plugins; Dynamic content presentation via PHP, RoR (Ruby on Rails), JSP/Velocity, and ASP.
2. Localizing applications built in RoR and Java - interfacing with localizers, coding the presentation layer to accept localizations, maintaining localization files, and adapting back end code to support localization.
3. Bridging the communication gap between marketing/SMBs and the technology that enables them.
# Languages/Libraries
Java, MySQL, REST, JSON, Open Source Software, Localization, Advanced CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, PHP, Ruby on Rails, JSP (including JSTL and Velocity), ASP, HTML/XML, HTML5, Regular Expressions, Adobe CQ Content Management System
# Tools
Bash, Maven, Ant, Version Control (Perforce, SVN, etc), Bug Tracking (JIRA, Bugzilla, etc), Eclipse, Skype, WebEx, IRC, Web Based Developer Tools, Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Apache, Tomcat, Photoshop
# Soft Skills
Cross team communication; Agile methodologies, Scrum mastering; Networking; Running meetings; Social media use; Search engine optimization; Open source software licensing and use; Determining patentable development and design work.
# Experience
## Software Engineer II at Apollo Group September 2011 - Present
* Was Technical Lead for and developed a financial planner tool which allows students to see not only the cost of their tuition, but also (using a third party API) the amount of loans, grants, and other resources they are eligible for that can be used to pay for those costs. Uses AJAX, JSON, a third party API, four in house APIs, a third party charting component, and a third party PDF creation tool.
* Developed AJAX based site search (used over 1 million times in the past year), which uses SOLR backend to present results. Includes pagination and category narrowing calls/UI.
* Lead development of team’s best practices and coding standards for HTML, JavaScript, JSP, and CSS.
## Software Engineer at Cisco August 2008 – August 2011 (3 years)
1. Smart Home Business Unit - Web Services Engineer Jan 2011 – Present (8 months)
* Front-end Java developer for Smart Energy cloud development. Worked on agile team in 1 week sprints to rapidly develop cloud architecture demonstrating output weekly to interested partners and incorporating feedback.
* Developed localizable front-end architecture that consumed several back end web services to feed data to present the UI.
* Worked in a weekly pair programming session with a UI/UX designer and a member of QA.
2. Prosumer Video Unit - Web Services Engineer Jan 2010 – Jan 2011 (1 year 1 month)
* Lead front-end Java developer.
* Coordinated efforts with offshore development team to ensure code quality. Performed code reviews, team training, and code refactoring to maintain quality standards.
* Created team documentation covering CSS, Javascript, and HTML best practices.
* Was web service team scrum master for length of product life-cycle. Integrated with product marketing team and engineering team to facilitate smooth transition through roadblocks.
3. Consumer Business Unit (Linksys) Aug 2008 – Jan 2010 (1 year 6 months)
* Ported applications and systems developed at Pure Networks over to Websphere and Oracle from Tomcat and MySQL.
* Supported sales and marketing efforts by providing demos of the previously developed customer support repository (CSR) tool.
* Created localized front-end for adding music services to a Linksys Whole Home Audio system. This front end called into and abstracted responses from several back end services that were used for user authentication and API integration into 3rd party services such as Rhapsody.
* Was responsible for transitioning several legacy services to other members of the team upon move to the Prosumer Video Unit.
## CERT Captain/Instructor at Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety November 2009 – August 2012 (2 years 9 months)
As a CERT Captain for the Maple Valley Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) I helped teach classes in the FEMA CERT program. I was also assigned a team of CERT members who reported through me to the fire department in times of emergency. In the process of this role, I also became CPR and First Aid certified, and passed the tests to become a licensed Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).
## Senior Developer at Pure Networks October 2004 - August 2008 (3 years 11 months)
* Developed customer support repository (CSR) which included database sharding to maximize performance and throughput.
* Created front-end system for CSR tool to display data about a user's home network using an XML response from back end web services and DOM manipulation with CSS and Javascript to create a visual map of devices.
* Created the Network Reports (NR) front-end and helped with the back-end web services that facilitated accepting uploads of data from home networks as well as presenting data back to the front-end for display.
* The NR front-end consisted of a thin user portal layer where users could create and modify settings on their account. It also consisted of an HTML styled email that was localized into 33 languages (including two right to left ones) and automatically sent daily.
* Created timezone logic for the email parser that determined when all emails would be sent to the worldwide user base.
* Was responsible for leading three re-designs of the PureNetworks.com and NetworkMagic.com websites.
* Created home hosted web server accompaniment for Network Magic called Net2Go. Net2Go allowed users to have web site access to their Network Magic shared files and folders through a self hosted Apache/PHP system that was setup on their system. Was responsible for all layers of the web application.
## Owner at Blue Needle October 2002 - July 2008 (5 years 10 months)
* Owned and operated this freelance consultancy providing full service web site design and development.
* Created dynamic web site features for client list using a variety of technologies including ASP, PHP, ASP.Net, MySQL and SQL Server.
* Responsible for sales, marketing, accounting, project management, and development of all projects.
## CSS Consultant at DeepRockDrive November 2007 - May 2008 (7 months)
I helped DRD develop a CSS strategy that allowed them to easily skin their site and provide
templates to sponsors for co-branding opportunities. This included a CSS coding standards document.
## Developer at Viair September 2000 - October 2002 (2 years 2 months)
* Coded JSP pages using n-tier Java APIs to present corporate messaging data (Exchange/Notes e-mail, calendar, and contacts) to a wide range of devices supporting HTML, WML, HDML, UP.Alerts, and SMTP alerts.
* Coded for regular release cycles as well as for quick turn around QFE releases.
* Participated in review and fine tuning of product specifications, user interface specifications, test plans, and documentation.
* Worked with French localizers using company created tools to produce an internationalized version of the product.
* Participated in creating framework for customers to brand our product using custom build tools and Cascading Style Sheets.
* Participated in administering and interpreting usability studies of the product's user interface.
Viair was later acquired by Visto.
## Solutions Architect at Venturi Technology Partners November 1997 - September 2000 (2 years 11 months)
* Acted as solutions architect for current and prospective clients. Responsibilities included on site visits to determine competency level of client and suggest courses of action in regards to their networks, servers, and web site/data architecture.
* Acted as technical pre-sales consultant for account managers and branch offices.
* Architected and participated in ASP based coding of C-Spa e-commerce site.
* Acted as Program Manager and technical liaison for Microsoft accounts including such groups as SiteBuilder Network, TechNet, Windows CE, Internet Solutions Network, and Home Advisor. Responsibilities as Program Manager included architecting, spec creation, costing, scheduling, and sourcing of all Microsoft projects.
* Created specifications, project managed, and developed WCE Partner's Extranet, MSWCE Intranet, and several Internet sites for Windows CE using ADO 2.0 and ASP/VBScript being served by IIS 4.0, with back end data residing in SQL 6.5/7.0 databases.
## Network Engineer at Ironlight Digital May 1996 - November 1997 (1 year 8 month)
* Set up, maintained, and supported 35 node mixed environment TCP/IP LAN comprised of Windows NT/95, Linux, Solaris X86, Mac OS 7.x/8, and HP network printers.
* Set up, maintained, and supported web sites, associated DNS, email accounts and news feed for 150+ clients.
* Set up, maintained, and supported temporary integrated TCP/IP environments for tradeshows and conferences. Responsibilities included cabling, router setup and configuration, provisioning of circuits, and troubleshooting of networks.
* Ironlight Digital acquired Fuse2 where I worked as a web developer on large sites for clients such as Sallie Mae, Sony, and Disney. I used HTML, CSS, and a small sprinkling of PERL to create templates and mass site re-designs.
* Ironlight Digital later underwent a merger to become Novo | Ironlight.
## Web Specialist at Proxicom August 1995 - May 1996 (10 months)
Performed multimedia conversion of 15,000+ images for clients such as Office Max, 1-800-Music-Now, and Iterated Systems. Coded HTML for sites such as The Nature Conservancy, Volunteers of America, Travelers Property & Casualty, in addition to portal development for AOL and MarketPlace MCI.
# Education
The Pennsylvania State University August 1991 – December 1995
BS & BA, Marketing & Telecommunications
Activities and Societies: Theta Xi Philanthropy Chairman, University Concert Committee
# Patents
* Publication Number 20080052384 - NETWORK ADMINISTRATION TOOL (patent pending) – A tool for managing a network of interconnected devices. The tool may provide a user with an interface that allows the user to view the type and status of each network device (that is, each device connected to the network), and even the status of the network itself. The tool may alternately or additionally provide a user with services related to the network, such as allowing a user to perform one or more tasks associated with devices in the network.
* Publication Number 20090019147 - NETWORK METRIC REPORTING SYSTEM (patent pending) – A tool for monitoring the use of devices in an interconnected network. Desired network information, such as the use of browsers on the networked devices, the use of other applications hosted on the networked devices, and the speed and volume of data traffic to and within the network, may be collected by one or more network management tools operating within the network, and then provided to an outside reporting server. In response, the reporting server then organizes and reports the collected information to one or more authorized parties associated with the network. The reporting server may send the collected network information directly to the authorized parties via electronic mail, or provide access to the collected network information by posting it on a secured Web site.
# Certifications
Certified Scrum Master CSM
# Profiles
http://www.quora.com/Myk-OLeary
http://stackoverflow.com/users/884927/myk-oleary
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mykoleary
https://github.com/mykoleary